Disney Q1 Earnings Highlights: 7,000 Job Cuts Amid Reorganization, Theme Park Growth, Disney+ Subscribers And More

Media giant The Walt Disney Company DIS reported first-quarter financial results after market close Wednesday. The company will be slashing 7,000 positions as it reorganizes into three new divisions - Disney Entertainment, ESPN, and Parks, Experiences and Products, CEO Bob Iger said on Wednesday. The layoffs will affect about 3% of Disney's 220,000 employees.

Here are the key highlights.

What Happened: Disney reported first-quarter revenue of $23.51 billion, an increase of 8% year-over-year. The revenue beat a Street estimate of $23.37 billion, according to Benzinga Pro.

The company reported earnings per share of 99 cents in the quarter, beating a Street estimate of 78 cents per share.

Disney reported revenue of $14.78 billion for its Media and Entertainment segment, up 1% year-over-year. The company saw its Parks, Experiences & Products segment had revenue of $8.74 billion, up 21% year-over-year.

In the media segment, Linear television revenue was $7.29 billion, down 5% year-over-year. The company’s direct-to-consumer revenue was $5.31 billion in the first quarter, up 13% year-over-year.

The company reported the following subscribers for its streaming platforms at the end of the first quarter - the fourth quarter totals are in parentheses.

Disney+ Domestic: 46.6 million (46.4 million)
Disney+ International excluding Hotstar: 57.7 million (56.5 million)
Disney+ Core: 104.3 million (102.9 million)
Disney+ Hotstar: 57.5 million (61.3 million)
Total Disney+: 161.8 million (164.2 million)

The company saw core Disney+ subscribers grow, but overall Disney+ subscribers were down 1% on a quarter-over-quarter basis due to the Hotsar subscriptions internationally.

The company reported average revenue per Disney+ subscriber of $3.93, up from $3.91 in the fourth quarter. Domestic Disney+ ARPU fell from $6.10 in the fourth quarter to $5.95 in the first quarter.

Disney reported ESPN+ subscribers of 24.9 million in the first quarter, up from 24.3 million in the fourth quarter.

Hulu subscribers were 48 million in the first quarter, up from 47.2 million in the fourth quarter.

The average revenue per subscriber was up for ESPN, Hulu SVOD and Hulu with Live TV.

For the Parks & Experiences segment, Disney saw domestic and international parks each having revenue growth of 27% year-over-year in the first quarter.

The company said it had higher volumes of guests and increased guest spending in the quarter.

What’s Next: Iger shared several comments on growth for the company moving forward.

“After a solid first quarter, we are embarking on a significant transformation, one that will maximize the potential of our world-class creative teams and our unparalleled brands and franchises,” Iger said. “We believe the work we are doing to reshare our company around creativity, while reducing expenses, will lead to sustained growth and profitability for our streaming business, better position us to weather future disruption and global economic challenges, and deliver value for our shareholders.”

DIS Price Action: Disney shares are up 2% to $114.15 in after-hours Wednesday.